Couple more things done today, I got the engine bay side braces painted and back on and fabbed up a simple mount for the catch cans. I don't really love the location, it is tucked out of the way, but it is also going to require longer lines. Ideally at some point, I'd like to delete the abs and put it there instead.




I don't have the lines hooked up yet, but that should be a simple project. Also need to order another set of nickel played elbows since I had to get some raw brass ones from ace.

I got her off the dollies, plan is to try to back her out and wash her tomorrow morning since the dust is so thick. Maybe I'll do a victory lap around the block a couple times if it's not too hot out, lol.

 

Wow that's an impressive build. I've always wondered how well those Whipples would do with a 3800. Something I've thought about for a future build, although I haven't ruled one out for the L31 350 in my 78 either. I still need to get the transmission in and it back on the road before I start worrying about engine mods though LOL.

 

The bad thing with the 3800 market is the community was soured by a bad vendor who made some crumby adapter kits back in the day. There are a few 3800s in the states that have them, but only one other one that is fairly heavily modded. He did low 500 at the tires. A lot of the other guys started off with a lot less mods, so their power numbers don't seem particularly impressive compared with m90 numbers.





First picture out of the garage in a few years!

I did manage to get her out this morning to wash her. Got out there at 7 and it was already just a hair under 90 degrees. By the time I got done washing her, it was over 90 and the clouds had dissipated.

I did still manage to take her around the block. Took it easy, but wanted to get it up to temperature and make sure nothing was leaking. Also wanted to get the headers heated up more to cook off some of the coating (wanted to get the smell and smoke released outside as much as possible, that stuff is nasty). Everything went well for the most part. Front tires are cracking so they'll need to be replaced before I get out on the highway. Too bad too since they have so little mileage on them. Tune also needs a lot more tweaking, it starts off ok at idle, but the harder you get on it, the further lean it goes. 25% throttle is about all it will take before the trims can't hold it anymore. I'm not going to bother with it now, it's too hot to do a real tune anyways. Maybe if we get a cool patch, I can start, otherwise it'll have to wait until fall.

In the meantime I'll just stick to small projects to get everything else tidied up.

 

I think what appeals to me about the Whipple is that it would be much much easier to turn it for RWD. My welding skills aren't quite there yet to build my own intake for a RWD M90 yet, and it's difficult at best to source one from Australia. I'd love a little Vega or Monza to drop one into, although if my 78 didn't already have the Vortec, I'd probably do it with that car.

 

So I was thinking about the tire thing, and it might not be so bad afterall. These tires (bfg kdw2) never hooked at all anyways, and probably would've been much worse with the new mods. I'm thinking about trying out either a DR or some sort of light duty track tire up front to help put the power down better. I don't put a lot of mileage on it anyways, so that might be a good option.

That makes sense. I've seen some m90 converted 3800 camaros and some of that intake plumbing looked nasty! Like you said, at least with the whipple, there are plenty of intakes that bolt on to get the tb facing the right way and can bolt on a variety of huge throttle bodies.

The other downside with the whipple on a 3800, is that in order to take full advantage of the bigger blower, it needs to be on a fairly heavily modified 3800. By the time you get everything you need: headers, ported heads, cam, intercooler, Whipple with adapters, snout, and pullies, fuel system, etc etc it's easy to get $10k wrapped up in the engine.

For a RWD setup, you could buy an ls3 that makes 480 bhp factory sealed for $6500. Granted the whipple 3800 will likely make more power, but it won't ever have the reliability of the ls engine or the room to grow. Plus, running an ls engine opens you up to being able to run a variety of super strong transmissions that require adapters and other custom parts to mate them to a 3800.

 

Very nice to see it out of the garage! That has been a long time coming! If you don't mind sharing where did you get the catch cans and how do you plan on plumbing them?

My catch cam the top piece that connects to the hoses busted off so I need a new can (my system I only had one can though that's why I ask how your plumbing yours)

 

The cans are from Elite Engineering. They're rather popular in the LS markets, but they are a little expensive for what they do. I've been using the same style for awhile on some of my other cars, and they seem to work rather well.

With the whipple adapters I've got, the stock pcv routing is completely blocked off so my system is completely external. It still flows basically the same path as stock, just has different connection points. I've got a hose barb threaded into each valve cover, plus the barb on my tb adapter (vacuum side) and the barb on the tb itself (atmospheric side). Basically just have a hose from each valve cover to each port (I believe it's rear vc to vacuum, front to atmospheric). Pcv valve is inline on the rear cover line.

My plan is just to splice one catch can into each line. Typically you would only need it between the crank case outlet and your vacuum source, however I've noticed under heavy boost at WOT (where both fittings in the intake stream are near equal pressure and the crank case pressure is high), oil can enter the intake from either hose. That's why I've got 2 on there.

 

nice.... cant wait to see finished product

 

I don't think it'll ever be truly finished. It seems like with every completed project, another few start up in the planning stages down the road. I think that's a big part of the reason why I still have it. It's hard to get bored with a car when it's always changing (and when you don't drive it for a few years, lol).

Summer is starting to finally wind down here. We're getting days every now and then that aren't in the triple digits. With monsoon season wrapping up, I still wouldn't trust driving with the weather. We still have occasional dust storms and heavy rains that pop up randomly from time to time.

The upside is that all of the major projects are done. There are a few simple brackets that need to be made, and the pcv still needs hooked up, bit it's all really minor stuff.

The big thing right now is getting the tune dialed in. I've been having a really hard time finding injector tables for the 3800 for these 110# Bosch injectors. I winged it for the initial startups, but I really need something a lot closer to make the tuning go easier. I've reached out to PRJ and a few of the clubgp guys that were in on the group buy years ago, hopefully one of those leads turns up tables that worked for them.


Once I get it back on the road, the next major project is going to be the hood. I don't want to have to worry about the weather in the off chance I do get caught in afternoon showers, plus I don't really want the sun breaking down all the rubbers and such. Still not sure what I'm going to do yet. I still have my 3" cowl hood, so I can either modify that to fit or I can build a new hood from scratch. Right now, I'm leaning towards the latter so I can keep the existing hood in tact for after the rwd conversion.

 

Quick Question: What mounts are better to go with Poly or Solid. I hear poly gives to much vibration but solid doesn't last as long. Any help would be needed